Colm Toibin won the Costa Award for best novel for BROOKLYN, which makes him the favorite for the overall Costa prize, to be announced January 26. The other category winners were: Raphael Selbourne, Beauty (first novel)Christopher Reid, A Scattering (poetry)Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom (biography) Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer (children’s)Guardian
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Steve Rosato has been promoted to event director of BEA after serving in various roles for the show since 1998, most recently as director of industry development & strategic accounts. Editorial director of digital publishing for Morrow/Avon/Eos Margot Schupf will move to Sterling as vp, publisher Sterling Innovation starting January 25. Frances Gilbert has been promoted to vp, publisher of Sterling Children’s, which includes the imprints Sterling Children’s Books, Sandy Creek Press, Begin Smart and Flash Kids. And Harold Lee joins the company this week as vp, finance. At Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, agent Stacey Glick has been named […]
Bookselling: After 10 Years of No Profits, Joseph-Beth Sees Plan for Growth; Art Publishers Expand Their Book Boutiques
Neil Van Uum of Joseph-Beth Booksellers admits to the Cincinnati Enquirer that the bookstore group has not turned a profit for a decade. “It’s been a bloodbath for 10 years,” he says. “But we’re finally seeing an opportunity to gain market share.” Group sales have been flat, at $45 million annually, since 2005. But Van Uum expects growth of 8 or 9 percent this year, driven by additions to the group. With seven stores in five states, Joseph-Beth just opened a hospital gift shop at the Cleveland Clinic under the banner of their new Joseph-Beth Wellness Retail division, and they […]
New Books In the News
Peter Biskind‘s forthcoming STAR: How Warren Beatty Seduced America draws headlines for its estimate that the movie star slept with almost 13,000 women over the years. Attorney Bert Fields denies the accusations, along with a contention in the NY Post that the book was authorized by Beatty.People Meanwhile, Elizabeth Gilbert‘s COMMITTED, which publishes tomorrow, is covered widely, including a Q&A with author Ann Patchett in the WSJ. In a preview piece, the NYT also tipped the awaited second novel from Elizabeth Kostova, THE SWAN THIEVES, along with Anne Tyler‘s NOAH’S COMPASS and Meg Whitman’s THE POWER OF MANY. Joshua Ferris‘s […]
Bookselling: Bankruptcy for Canada's McNally Robinson; Eso Won Expects Another Tough Year; Northshire Hails Haslett Novel
Much-admired Canadian indie McNally Robinson Booksellers has entered bankruptcy and will close two of its four stores immediately: one in Polo Park in Winnipeg and their Toronto store in the new Shops at Don Mills mall. 170 of the bookseller’s 425 full- and part-time employees will lose their jobs as result. Co-owner Paul McNally says that as long as the company’s bankruptcy plan is approved the other two stories, in Winnipeg and Saskatoon, will remain open. “They make money,” he said. “They have a loyal following,” while the other two “new stores absolutely did not perform.” The Winnipeg Free Press […]
Remembering Joyce Engelson, Paul Nathan and Mark Gates
Richard Marek reports to us that longtime book editor Joyce Engelson died on Christmas of pneumonia. In her long career she was editor-in-chief at Abelard Schuman, executive editor of The Dial Press, editor-in-chief of Richard Marek Publishers at St. Martin’s and Putnam, editor-in-chief of Dutton, and editor at large for Crown. Among the hundreds of authors she edited were Richard Condon, Samuel Shem, Norman Cousins, Heywood Hale Broun, Irving Howe, Gael Green and Ishmael Reed. Marek writes: “Known for her fierce honesty with authors – young editors at Richard Marek Publishers used to stand by her office door when she […]